Towel cabinet



F. M. STEINER TOWEL CABINET Oct. 16, 1923.

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Filed March 20. 192

Patented Oct. 16, 1923.

UNITED STATES 1,420,944; Parser QFFHCE.

FRANK M. STEIN'ER, OF MINNEAPQLIS, MINNESOTA, .ASSIGNOR TO STEINER SALESCOMPANY. OF SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH, A CORPORATION OF UTAH 'rownn CABINET.

Application filed March 20, 1922'. Serial No. 545,174.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK M. STEINER, a citizen of the United States,resident of Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, State of Minnesota,haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Towel Cabinets, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to that type of cabi- 7 net adapted to receive aplurality of rolls of towel with provisionfor using one roll at a time,the cabinet being so constructed that the janitor or person in. chargeof the toilet room can, at any time when either roll is exhausted, placethe clean roli in reserve position in' the cabinet ready to be made useof when the towel in use has been exhausted. It is therefore unnecessaryfor either the laundrynian or the janitor to re move a partially usedroll and return it to the laundry, which is often done, resulting inwaste of the towel, the attendant fearing that the partially used towelwill not last until the laundrymananakes another trip. My invention alsoeliminates the necessity of examining the cabinetas frequently as thejanitor would do if provisizm was made for only one' rolliin the cabinetA further object is to l'r ep the reserve towel roll in a position whereit cannot be' useduntil'the towel inuseis exhaiisted.

A'furtlier and particular object is to provide improvedmeansjwherebyithe second towel web can be easily and quickly placed 3 inposition for use; when the web'of the first towel isexha ist'edtOtherobjects of the inventio n'will appear from the following detaileddescription.

The invention consists generally in various constructions andcombinations. all as hereinafter described and particularly pointed outin the claims: p

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification,

Figure 1 a vertical sectional view through a towel cabinet embodying myinvention, I A

Figure 2 is a front view of'the same,

Figure 3 is a detail sectional view through the towel grippers onegripper plate being shown partially removed from its sockets,

Fi ure 4 a front view of a gripper show ng the support for the towel andthe hinged gripper,

Figure 5 IS a detail sectional view of the measuring'rod.

gripper 20, while In the drawing, 2 represents the cabinet havinchambers 3 and 4 in the lower portion fin the clean towel rolls 5 and 6,the chambers being preferably separated by a rigid shelf 7 on which theroll 6 is supported. A curved wall 8 extends from the rear wall 9forwardly and downwardly to the base of the cabinet and forms a chamberii] in the lower front of the cabinet into which the soiled towel isdelivered. access thereto and to the chambers 33 and 4 being ha-zlthrough a suitable door 11. The upper portion of the cabinet has anopening 12 therein and beneath this opening is an inclined shelf 13which serves to direct the loose end of the towel toward the chamber 10and also limits the downward movement of the hands of the user as hepulls on the clean depending portion of the towel.

A wall 14 is provided at the rear of the chambers 3 and 4- and at thetop of this wall is an opening 15 through which the webs of cleantowcling are carried to the grippers above. The wall 9 is preferai'ilyinwardly inclined toward the top and allows the towel web to slideeasily thereon toward the forward gripper. These grippers are ofcorresponding construction and comprise sockets 16 and 16 mounted on theside walls of thecabinet and adapted to receive loose bars 1'] and 17'having their ends fitting il to the sockets and freely slidablevertically therein. y

I have shown flat removable bars but it will be understood that rollsmay be substituted therefor, if preferred, the towel web sliding overthe peripheries of the rolls and clamped thereon by the action of thegrippers in substantially the same way as the towel web is clamped onthe bars.

Brackets 18 are secured to the side walls of the cabinet and havebearings for shafts 19 of the gripper paltes 20 arranged in position toclamp the towel webs against the upper surfaces of the bars 17 and 17*,said gripper plates having flanged lower edges 2L which are engaged bythe towel webs when they are pulled forwardly for tilting the gripperplates and clamping the webs againstthe bars 17 and 17.

As shown in Figure 1, the web from the roll 6 is carried up to theforward gripper, the ioose end being passed over the bar 17 anddownwardly between this bar and the the web from the roll 5 is carriedup in a similar manner to the rear gripper and suspended thereon. Aperson' standing in front of the cabinet will pull downwardly on the webof the roll 6 until his hands are checked by the shelf 18,-then he canpull the towel forwardly through the opening 12 to a position forconvenient use and then forward pull on the towel will" tilt the plate20 and cause its upper edge to grip the web and clamp it against thebar17, thereby preventing further feed or pull of the towel until the looseportionis dropped and assumes}; substantially vertical position. Whenthetowei'fi has been exhausted, the person in charge of the cabinetmayre move the forward bar 1 7 and substitute therefor the' rear bar 17with i the towel hanging thereon'and the operation described may berepeated. V

In other words, the rear bar with the towel web hanging thereon issubstituted for the forward bar when the towel on the forward plate isexhausted. f f

If the forward towel, or the onethat is used first becomes exhausted,theperson next desiring to use the cabinet canrea'ch through the openingin the front and grasp the loose end of the reserve towel aiiddrawinggdown thereon obtain a sufficient length for wiping. purposes.This use may'contini'ie until the janitor. or other erson in charge ofthe cabinet has'opport nity tov transpose the bars, and move the towelroll 5 'from the chamber 3 to the chainber 4. Then when the laun dry mancalls, he 'canremove jthe soiled towel from the compartment10 and eitherhe or the janitor will place a-"fresjh reserve roll, in the chamber ,3and parry-the loose web thereof up over the rear barior' support whereit can be seen and be readily accs" sibl'e tothe towel users when theforward roll is again exhausted." In this way, IIpro-f: videacoiitinuous unbrbken' supply of clean toweling to the users of the,cabinet. There is no period when the cabinet is not adapte'd to deliveraclean'section of towel. y i

I prefer. also to provide a rod "22 loosely fitting the misses intheside "walls 'o'f'the cabinet. This rod can be placedin any ofjnstable measuring device that will measure or determine a wipingsurface of the towel of eight, ten or twelveinches'gs desired, The towelwebis passed under the rod, which 0p rates to lirnit'the upwardmoyementlof the hands with the towel, as indicated inFigure l,'und thismovement can be increased or decreased by the vertical adjustment of therod, v

The particular advantage; of this fcabinet lies. in the fact that thetowel supporting bars forming the nerrnally stationary portions or thegrippers may be easily and quickly retrieved for reversed "osition' toallow tine towelito:be substituted oranother th opposite holes shown andbecomes an ad- [including loose bars and'fixed supper v lating devicesbeing and a supply of clean toweling always maintained without anyinterruption-eta point where it can be conveniently reached by the usersof the cabinet.

I claim as my invention:

1. A towel cabinet comprising'a support, a plurality of rolls of cleantowel therein having their webs one in advance of the other, a pluralityof feed regulating devices forsaid rolls, said devices comprisingremovable supports one in advance of the other over which the webs oftowel pass, and gripper plates actuated by outward pull on the towelwebs for clamping said webs, against said supports. I

2. A towelcabinet comprising a support, a plurality of rolls of cleantowel therein, feed re ulating devices arran ed one in front of theother, for the wiis ofclean towel, said devices comprisingbarsremovablefrom their supports for transposition therein, and over which bars thetowel webs pass, and means for clamping the towel webs against saidbars.

3. A towel cabinet comprising ,a casing,

a plurality of towel webstherein, gr ppers arranged to receive the websoi clean towel, said grippers comprising forward and rear bars removablefrom their supports 'for transposition therein, and-over which ibars thewebs and depend one in. front of the other, and said grippersincluding-- means for clamping the towel webs against said bars whenforward and outward pujll is applied to the webs.

l. A t0wel cabinet comprising a casing,

plurality of towels therein, towel grippersl mounted in the upperportion 'ther'eo; corn prising1 k V v ,and plates and 'sockets t-herhfoqin whichsai plates are removably the webs of clean towel dependingjfroinjsait plates and angles platespivotally support:

fed and engaged by thejveb ofto 'wel for clamping it against, saidremovable plates, 1 5. A towel cabinet comprising a 'support' for therolls of clean towel, feefd' regulating devices over which the towelwebs pass, one

feed device being utilized fo'r the towel in use and the other forthereserve w,eb, and

.siaid hate being removable from their supports for transpositiontherein, to allow thefw'eb. of the reserve towel to be substituted forthe other when it has been used," the Ilooseend of the reserve towel webbeing visible and accessible to the user when the first web of towelingis exhausted.

6. A: towel cabinetlcom prising a support for the rolls ofclean"toweling, feedre'gua lating devices over which the towel webspass, one device being utilized for the towel in use and the other forthe reserve web,

the supports for the webs in'said teed regr t; 1 mounted 'for'transj'ppsition to allow the web of the reserve towel to be substitutedfor the other when it has been used and means for increasing ordecreasing the delivery of the towel and the length of substituted forthe other when it has been used and means for increasing or decreasingthe length "of wiping surface delivered to the user, said meanscomprising a rod adjustable vertically in said support.

8. A towel cabinet com rising a support, main and reserve Webs oi cleantowel, feed regulatin devices including bars loosely mounted in fixedsupports said bars being removable from their supports for transpositionone for the other, and adapted to support respectively the towel webs ofthe one in use and the one in reserve, the reserve towel web beingsubstituted for the one in use when it is exhausted, and means forlimiting the length of wiping surface deliv ered to the user.

9. A towel cabinet comprising a sup-port for rolls of clean towel, feedregulating devices adapted to support the towel webs of the one in useand the one in reserve, the reserve towel web being substituted for theone in use when it is exhausted, andomeans for limiting the length ofwiping surface delivered to the user, said means comprising a rodvertically adjustable with which the towel web in use engages.

10. A towel cabinet comprising a casing having a towel delivery opening,a plurality of towel rolls arranged in said casing, bars loosely mountedone in advance of the other on fixed supports in said casing adjacentsaid opening, said bars being removable from their supports fortransportati'on therein, said bars supporting the loose ends of thetowel webs one in front of the other, and having means for grip-pingsaid webs and regulating the feed thereof, the rear bar bein substitutedfor the forward bar when the orward towel roll is exhausted.

11. A towel holder and a plurality of towel rolls arranged therein,fixed bearings having removabl bars arranged one in advan cc of theother, over which the loose ends of the towel webs are supported, theforward web being accessible to users of the holder and covering andconcealing the rear web, the rear web being accessible to users when theforward web is exhausted, and said bars being removable from said holderfor transposition therein to allow the rear towel web to be substitutedfor the forward one.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 16" day of March,1922.

FRANK M. STEINE-R.

